Pitching In and Going Green!

Our second weekend’s theme was ecology and volunteerism. We wanted to have the students participate in some community service activity and be more aware of the environment around them, as they will be doing such activities in the US.
Saturday, the local Department of Forestry invited us to help plant trees in one of their forestry preserves. After official speeches from the Forestry officials, Woodlands school director and the PDO director, the students went about planting a variety of trees around the grounds. Here in Punjab, they are very much into planting trees and we are always willing to help plant trees. I think many of the students and the counselors were inspired to do this back in Afghanistan as an alumni project. There are many parts of Afghanistan that could use more trees. After our tree planting, we toured a large garden of medicinal plants that the Department of Forestry grows. Lots of interesting plants to smell and taste that are beneficial for one’s health. The lemongrass was a big hit—a healthy deterrent to bad breath!
Back at camp, we expressed our love and appreciation to the place we call home for one month by cleaning it up. Although we have people who clean our dorms, bathrooms and classrooms, we gave them a day off and the students got busy sweeping, cleaning, dusting, throwing away garbage, and tidying up. At first the school staff were adamant that we shouldn’t do anything but we told them that the students need to do take part in cleaning up their home, at least one day while we are here.
On Sunday, we piled in to a nice AC-ed bus for a long journey to Chandigarh to check out the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden. I read about this in Tim’s Lonely Planet guide and thought this would be an interesting place to visit. Nek Chand was a road inspector who took garbage and building debris and created a giant garden in the jungles outside of Chandigarh. As new building went on and old buildings and villages were torn down, he saw all this debris and waste as an outlet for his creativity. So with rocks, broken plates, sinks and toilets, glass, bottle caps, wire, bracelets, glass, and so much more, he created this amazing fantasy garden will gods and goddesses, whimsical animals and deities. At first many of the students didn’t understand the concept of the garden (even though we briefed them and gave them websites to search) but once it was explained to them again and they saw it with their own eyes, they got it and were amazed. I think what amazed them the most was the fact that Nek Chand is still alive. As one student put it, “We are used to seeing things that were built thousands of years ago by unknown people. It’s so interesting to see something that was built by someone who is still alive.”
We roamed the giant, walled garden for two hours, snapping photos in front of waterfalls and rivers, and looking at all the interesting figures that make up this magical place. In the more modern part of the garden, students and teachers took advantage of the camel rides, swings and ice cream to end a pleasant day of fun and learning. Jane, one of our teachers, had a dream of riding an elephant here in India but compromised and rode the camel, which was just as exciting. Who knows what impression this visit had on the students. Was it a true learning experience or just a romp in a fun place. Hopefully this experience will make them look differently at garbage, and think about how important it is not to waste.